The present invention relates to photocomposing or photosetting machines in general, and more particularly to improvements in combinations of such machines with developing machines for the processing of freshly treated photosensitive material. Still more particularly, the invention relates to improvements in devices for regenerating the developing, fixing, rinsing and/or other fluids which are used in such developing machines.
It is known to replenish and/or recondition (i.e., regenerate) the supplies of various treating agents in a developing machine by resorting to regenerating devices in the form of metering pumps which are operated intermittently or continuously for the purpose of ensuring that the condition or quality of the respective baths remains unchanged or fluctuates within a rather narrow range. As a rule, the agent or agents are regenerated at a rate which is a function of the width of photosensitive material and/or overall length of the material which is admitted into the developing machine per unit of time. The just described mode of regulating regeneration of one or more fluids in the bath or baths of a developing machine as a function of the dimensions (width and/or length of photosensitive material) is satisfactory in many instances, especially if the rate of regeneration of one or more agents is further regulated as a function of certain other characteristics of the photosensitive material (such as the composition of emulsion and/or others). However, even such relatively complex regulation of regeneration of developing, fixing and/or other agents is not entirely satisfactory in connection with the development of photosensitive material which issues from a photocomposing machine. This is due to the fact that the concentration of various agents in the developing bath or baths varies as a function of certain additional parameters, such as the density of photosensitive material which issues from the photocomposing machine.